Something that we many times forget that though Christ was God in flesh, He still had flesh. We battle and are tempted just as Christ battled and was tempted, not only in some areas but ALL areas except without sin. What can we learn from the Human Christ? In order to be tempted and yet not sin Christ had to see and fully know the empty promises of Satan. If there was one area Satan could get his foot in Christ he would have taken it and exploited it. However Christ knowing the heart of Satan and the wages of sin clung and held to the Father's Love all that much tighter. Something that I think about is Jesus' earthly father Joseph, he died while Christ was still pretty young according to historians. We must realize that Christ felt the human hurt of loosing a father, however HE clung to the Heavenly Father even tighter.

I have thought about how we train pastors and leaders for ministry these days, In America as long as you can pass the test and agree with doctrine you are found reliable and worthy to minister to the Glorious Church of Christ Jesus. However we look at the life of Christ and find that He lived to be 30 years of age before ever preaching a message. Jesus Christ LIVED the sermon on the mount 30 years before ever preaching it. This definitely makes the implications practice what you preach so much deeper. Today we see poor examples of Christ in the Church not because Christ isn't present or even presented but because He isn't lived and in a lot of cases even by the pastors. Jesus Christ laid His life down for his Bride day after day and suffered greatly for her even to death, death on the cross. His human frame wasn't impressive or even super human but rather average and quite common, we see this because it removes the excuse from our lips that Christ had super human strength. I don't believe He did, I believe He knew one thing, true Love was in the Father and Christ remained content in that Love. He was completely sold out to the Father.

Another aspect of Christ sinlessness though being buffeted daily by temptation was HIs Love for us, His Church, when temptation came we were on His mind. Christ knew He was our only hope and so HIs mercy was manifest in His Human nature that though the human frame is weak no man ever pushed the human body to such great limits as Christ ever did.

Though for this I have focused on the Human aspect of Christ we must not neglect His godly aspects either I have just learned a lot thinking on the Human nature of Christ. When Christ came into the world He was the image of God just as Adam was except this time without sin. Christ is an example of everything we can be through Him and His atoning work on the Cross.

God Bless,

Matthew

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Matthew Guldner

Amen, that is some good stuff.

I liked the way you pointed out that He lived the Sermon on the Mount for thirty years before preaching it. That is a very good point. I beleive E. M. Bounds said something along the lines of it taking twenty years to make a sermon because it takes God twenty years to make a man.

"The sermon on the mount is the full portrait of Jesus Christ" - Leonard Ravenhill

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Mike Wright